In recent years, poker has become very popular. One of the most common variations of poker is Five Card Draw. In general, in Five Card Draw poker the player gets five cards dealt face up from a 52 card deck of playing cards. The player can discard none, one, a plurality or all of the five cards. Each discarded card is replaced with another card from the deck. After the replacement, the cards are evaluated for winning combinations. For a five card poker game, there are ten general categories of hands, ranked from highest to lowest, as shown in Table 1 below.
TABLE 1Ranking of Five Card Poker Hands by CategoryRankNameExample1Royal Straight FlushA  K  Q  J  10 2Straight FlushK  Q  J  10  9 3Four of a KindJ  J♥ J♦ J  3 4Full HouseA♥ A♦ A  6♦ 6 5FlushA  J  8  6  2 6Straight8♦ 7  6  5  4 7Three of a KindQ  Q♥ Q♦ 6♦ 2 8Two Pair8♦ 8♥ 5♥ 5  2 9One PairK♦ K  8  7  2♥10High CardA♥ 10  7♦ 5  3 
Within each category, hands are ranked according to the rank of individual cards, with an Ace being the highest card and a two being the lowest card. There is no difference in rank between the four suits of cards. All hands can be ranked in a linear ranking from highest to lowest. Because suits are all of the same value, however, there are multiple hands that have identical rankings. For example, there are four equivalent hands for each type of Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, or Flush, there are over a hundred equivalent hands for each two pair variation, and there are over 1,000 equivalent hands for each type of no-pair hand.
Numerous variations of poker exist, including Five Card Draw as mentioned above, Three Card Poker, Five Card Stud, Seven Card Stud, Hold'em (also called Texas Hold'em), Omaha (also called Omaha Hold'em), and Pai-Gow Poker. The variations in these games generally differ in the manner in which cards are dealt and in the manner and frequency in which bets are placed. Various criteria may also be used to determine the winning hand, including highest ranking hand, lowest ranking hand (Low-Ball), and where the high and low hands each win half of the pot (High-Low).
The number of cards dealt and the ability to draw or replace cards depends on the particular variation of poker being played. In typical video-based Five Card Draw Poker games, a player receives five cards from a virtual deck of cards to form an initial player hand. The player is able to replace any or all of the cards where the replacement cards are drawn from the virtual deck of cards. In a Five Card Draw Poker game, a player selects a hold input associated with a particular card to signify that they would like to keep that card. The number of discarded cards are replaced with cards from the virtual deck to form the final player hand. The final player hand is compared to a paytable and the gaming system provides any awards based on the rank of the player's hand. Other variations of Five Card Draw Poker exist, such as Deuces Wild. In this variation, any Two in a player's hand functions as a wild card. In typical Three Card Poker games, the player plays against a dealer hand and the player and dealer hands include a total of three cards. In certain known Three Card Poker games, the initially dealt player hand and dealer hand are final and there is no option to replace or draw any new cards. In stud poker games, such as Five Card Stud and Seven Card stud, the players receive a number of cards dealt face-down and a number of cards dealt face-up. In typical stud games, the player is not allowed to draw or replace cards in the player hand.
The poker variation of Three Card Poker is generally played with a single deck of playing cards, where the player plays against a dealer hand rather than against other players. Certain variations of Three Card Poker include one or more side-games. In one example, there is a Play/Ante game where a player plays against the dealer hand to determine who has the highest hand. Also, there is a side-game commonly referred to as the Pair Plus game. In this secondary or side game, the player wages on whether or not the player will be dealt a pair or better. Certain gaming establishments allow wagering on either of the games and other gaming establishments require a player to make an Ante Bet in order to participate in the Pair Plus portion of the game.
In one common multiplayer version of Three Card Poker, there are three wagering areas at each player position on a gaming table. One wagering area labeled Pair Plus is where the player puts a wager on the Pair Plus game. For the base game, there are two wagering areas labeled Ante and Play. The game starts with a player placing a wager in the Pair Plus and/or Ante circle. After all the players have placed their wagers, the dealer deals three cards face-up to each player. In general, if a player has wagered an Ante they must make a decision to fold or continue playing after looking at their hand. If the player folds, the Ante wager is forfeited without the player having ever determined if his/her hand would have beaten the dealer's hand. If a player wishes to continue, the player is required to place an additional wager in the Play wagering area equal to their Ante bet. For example, if a player wagered five credits on the Ante bet, the Play wager would also be five credits. Accordingly, the player can make a relatively small initial wager to see their cards and determine if they want to continue with the game.
After all the players have determined whether to forfeit or continue playing, the dealer reveals his/her three card hand. According to certain Three Card Poker rules, the dealer must qualify with a hand of Queen or higher for play to continue. If the dealer's hand does not contain a Queen or higher, all active players are paid even money for their Ante wager even if their hand is a lower hand than the dealer hand. Also, the Play wager is returned to the player. If the dealer's hand qualifies, then the dealer's hand is compared to the player's hand. If the player's hand outranks the dealer's hand, the player is paid even money for both the Ante wager and the Play wager. If the dealer's hand beats the player's hand, the player loses both wagers. If the rank of the player's hand is the same as the dealer's hand, the player wins the wager or pushes depending on the house rules.
The hand rankings for Three Card Poker are different than the hand ranking for Five Card Poker as listed in Table 1 above. This is because the mathematical probabilities of making certain hands are different for Three Card Poker and because there are less cards (e.g., you cannot achieve two-pair when you only have three cards). The Three Card Poker hands are generally ranked from the highest to the lowest as shown in Table 2 below:
TABLE 2Ranking of Three Card Poker Hands by CategoryRankNameExample1Straight FlushK  Q  J 2Three of a KindQ  Q♥ Q♦3Straight8♦ 7  6 4FlushA  J  8 5One PairK♦ K  8 6No PairA♥ 10  7♦
The Pair Plus wager is based only on whether a player's three card hand has a pair or higher. The Pair Plus wager is paid based on a pay table established by the gaming establishment. Therefore, even if the player loses to the dealer, if the player has a hand rank of at least a pair, the player wins the Pair Plus Wager. Accordingly, the Pair Plus wager can be used to hedge against a frustrating loss to the dealer where the player has a good hand.
Certain players seek out variations to traditional card games such as Video Poker, Three Card Poker, Blackjack and Baccarat. A need therefore exists for new and exciting card games with high degrees of player interaction.